DESCRIPTIONS OF FOUR NEW AFRICAN THRUSHES OF 

 THE GENERA PLANESTICUS AND GEOCICHLA 



By EDGAR A. MEARNS 



ASSOCIATE IN ZOOLOGY, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Three of the forms herein described are from the collection made 

 by the Paul J. Rainey African Expedition, and one from the Smith- 

 sonian African Expedition, under the direction of Colonel Theodore 

 Roosevelt. 



The names of special tints and shades of colors used in this paper 

 conform to Robert Ridgway's " Color Standards and Color Nomen- 

 clature," issued March 10, 1913. All measurements are in millimeters. 



PLANESTICUS HELLERI, new species 

 Heller's Thrush 



Type-specimen. — Adult female, Cat. No. 217722, U. S. National 

 Museum ; collected at Mount Mbololo, altitude 4000 feet, east of 

 Mount Kilimanjaro, British East Africa, November 9, 191 1, by 

 Edmund Heller, on the Paul J. Rainey African Expedition. (Orig- 

 inal number, 417.) 



Description of the adult female (type and only specimen). — Top 

 and sides of head black ; remainder of upper parts brownish olive, 

 slightly darker on the wings and tail, which show traces of dusky 

 cross-bars ; chin, throat, and chest mouse gray, with a trace of white 

 spotting on the chin, black shaft-stripes on the throat, and a wash of 

 ferruginous on the lower chest ; abdomen and crissum white, the 

 under tail-coverts white, bordered laterally with gray ; sides, axillars, 

 under wing-coverts, and inner webs of quills orange-brown ; flanks 

 olive-gray mixed with white ; thighs brownish-gray mixed with rusty. 

 Bill, feet, and claws apparently yellow or orange. Four primaries 

 are emarginated on outer webs. 



Measurements of type (adult female). — Wing, 108; spurious pri- 

 mary, 16; tail, 79 ; oilmen (chord), 22 ; tarsus, 30.5. 



Remarks. — This species is not closely related to any other African 

 thrush, but slightly resembles the Asiatic Turdus chrysolaus Tem- 

 minck in coloration, except that the head is black. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 61, No. 10 



